I was contemplating what the Canadian response should be to what will be a huge surge in the demand for our lumber given the catastrophe in New Orleans and other communities in the US.
I found a couple of interesting articles at Accidental Deliberationsand The Progressive Right. The latter one comments on the following ass-wipe statement by Scott Shotwell, a spokesman for the protectionist Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports. He arrogantly said...
"If Canada wants to do the humanitarian aid and donate their lumber, there would be no duty on free lumber."
What a joke. This guy should be strapped to a log going through the planer at a sawmill of his choice. It just shows the mentality of the Americans on this issue.
Both the above articles suggest that Canadians should do the humanitarian thing regardless of the current dispute and its cost to Canadian businesses. This is where I differ. I would do the humanitarian thing only after we got a closed door commitment from Mr. Bush that the tariffs are off for good.
You can bet this backroom leverage is used by the Americans to get what they want from countries around the world that need their help. Canada doesn't have to be non-compassionate; there are lots of ways we can support the humanitarian cause without giving them free lumber or even selling it with the current tariffs.
Sometimes when you are in a dispute or unfair circumstance that you feel powerless to resolve, you get a helping hand you never expected. Sometimes bullies need, and get, some of their own medicine. I think Mother Nature has spoken loud and clear and she seems to have sided with the Canadians.
We have been given the lever, I only hope we have the guts to use it.
Ed:LM
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Article comments
1 - D L Ennis
OJ, I am an American and I own several acres of land loaded with huge white pines and popular and right now it is worth nothing. The market is so flooded with lumber that no one will by softwood timber. Sorry, but we don't need your lumber!
D L
2 - D L Ennis
Correction Poplar.
D L
3 - D L Ennis
Correction buy. Rough day!
4 - JELIEL
To begin with, when the shit hits the fan in the US, Canada always lets go of bickering and just helps out.
The US Admin rejected offers of help from Canada concerning NOLA... we sent it anyway.
Even when the US was choking our cattle industry to death (and still are trying) when California was on fire, we sent a contigent of super-scoopers to take out the fires, while we still had our own forest-fires to deal with.
Canadians aren't the type to hold grudges in times of need like the one Americans are being faced with in NOLA. Because we value life above economics.
5 - Ordinary Joe
D L
Do you realize that you don't have enough quality lumber to rebuild the estimated 500,000 homes destroyed by Katrina and that your unfair duties will add $500 million to the cost of same?
Do you realize US lumber is poor quality and not desired by your construction industry?
Also, this money goes into the pockets of the lumber barons in your country making them richer without producing so much as an extra 2x4.
Don't worry, if you don't want our lumber, we will find other markets, like China. Maybe we will get better treatment from the Communists.
OJ
6 - D L Ennis
Don't misunderstand me OJ. I only sell enough lumber each year to pay taxes on my land and this year there is no market for it. I could not care less about where the lumber in this country comes from.
D L
7 - D L Ennis
That should be; I only sell enough timber.
D L
8 - RJ
Are the tariffs a bad idea?
Yes.
Should decent Canadians punish innocent Americans over an idiotic trade dispute between the two governments?
No.
Are you even close to being rational when you write this:
"Sometimes bullies need, and get, some of their own medicine. I think Mother Nature has spoken loud and clear and she seems to have sided with the Canadians."
Not a bit.
9 - Dave Nalle
The highway construction project near me just bulldozed hundreds of acres of 100 year old oaks and elms. I am totally at a loss as to why those trees weren't harvested for lumber first. It seems almost criminal to me.
I've milled my own boards for furniture project, and it's not that hard to do. The highway departments ought to be required by law to find people to use the lumber they destroy, even if it means paying small woodcraft businesses to cart it off and have it milled for cabinetry in local mills.
Dave
10 - Bennett
Dave, that IS a crime. There are small mills in every state that could have turned those trees into exquisite flooring, keeping their workers employed and overtime to boot.
OJ - Good post. I agree that the unfair trade practices need to be resolved. And as has already been said, Canada is no miser when it comes to humanitarian aid.
Keep up the good work.
11 - Ordinary Joe
RJ, the point I was trying to convey (not too clearly I must admit)was that sometimes things happen to open a door or provide an opportunity. This is what Katrina did, in my opinion, for Canada with respect to the lumber dispute.
As for punishing innocent Americans, I would never advocate that. We can be humanitarian in many ways, but we don't have to donate or sell lumber to do that.
Regards (thanks Bennett)
OJ
12 - Tommy
Many people forget the simple fact that most of our softwood comes from crown lands.
The American side of this 20 year feud does have a point.